The Hunt for Blood
by Sachiko26
Summary: Isabella Swan is a part of an organization of vampire hunters and is placed undercover as the personal assistant to the notorious, playboy CEO of Twilight Industries, Edward Cullen, who is suspected to be a vampire running the underground vampire world in San Francisco. Her mission is to kill, but when the time comes, will she be able to do it?
1. Bella the Badass

The Hunt for Blood

Summary: Isabella Swan is a part of an organization of vampire hunters and is placed undercover as the personal assistant to the notorious, playboy CEO of Twilight Industries, Edward Cullen, who is suspected to be a vampire running the underground vampire world in San Francisco. Her mission is to kill, but when the time comes, will she be able to do it?

Chapter One: Bella the Badass

She ducked, dodged, and sidestepped every attack thrown at her. It was becoming tiresome, boring to a certain point. She wasn't even countering back. She was playing with her attacker. Another slow punch came for her head. Bella could've recited the alphabet backwards and moved out of the way before the punch would even land on her. She visibly yawned to express how much of joke she thought her attacker was. And that only made him mad – well not just him, but them. Three guys, much bigger and much taller than Bella, rushed her at the same time. Okay, play time was over.

Bella let the first guy come in with his punch. She grabbed hold of his arm while dodging to the right and locking up his hand. The guy immediately went down on his knees. Bella then brought the arm bar down to her knee and slammed her knee against his elbow, pushing it the opposite way an elbow should bend. She relished the sound of the snap of bone and the howl of pain. In a very fast, well-practiced movement, Bella grabbed a stake-like dart from a belt around her waist, and slammed the dart into the man. The dart was filled with red paint, and the paint exploded all over the chest of the man. Bella used this man as a springboard and jumped, stepped, and pushed off of him with a round kick into the face of another assailant. She heard another crack as the man spit blood and teeth from his mouth. She came up in front of him as he was slightly bent over looking at the loose teeth in his hand, and used her knee jamming straight up and her hands slamming down on the back of the man, so her knee went as far and hard into his stomach as possible. In another simultaneous and quick movement, she slammed a dart into his chest. He fell unconscious to the floor next to his partner. The third attacker stopped as he watched with horror as his two allies were swiftly dealt with. Bella turned and smiled eerily as she stalked towards her last prey, pulling out a third dart from her belt.

"Enough! Simulation completed, Miss Swan!" a booming voice rang throughout the room.

Bella stopped her attack, placed the dart back into her belt, and ran to the edge of the room, standing at attention, with her hands clasped together behind her back. The dimmed lights in the room brighten to an almost blinding white revealing a large training room. Three out of four sides of the room had glass walls with rows of chairs behind them filled with observers. All of the men and women were either frantically talking to one another or filling out a clipboard with scribbles.

She surveyed the room. The third 'attacker' was standing at attention at the opposite end of the room, clearly relieved he did not experience the same as his two comrades. One was knocked out cold in the middle of the room, while the other was still writhing around in pain, holding his broken elbow, both splattered in red paint where their hearts were located. She smiled, proud of her work.

The automated metal doors at the one side of the room without observation walls slid open. Two groups of paramedics rushed in, attending the fallen. Behind the paramedics were a man and a woman. The woman, like the observers, was taking down notes as the man quietly whispered to her. They both headed towards Bella. The man stopped his dictation to give a look of disgust towards the two on the floor before addressing Bella.

"Miss Swan" began the man, "if you continue to fight like that, we are going to have to find ourselves a whole new fleet of recruits." There was a general chuckle around the room. "You have passed our test with flying colors and if these two men, though I would hardly consider them men after that poor display, were vampires, I dare say you would have destroyed them without even breaking a nail."

"Only doing my job, sir." Bella gave a small smile.

"Yes, well done. You may go to your room and clean up. We will be in touch, shortly."

After being dismissed, Bella followed her superiors out of the room. She began walking in a different direction down a maze of gray hallways, each looking the same as the one before. Everything was constructed out of metal, no adornments, no decorations. She finally stopped in front of a door with the number 126 etched into it. She walked into a small room, constructed out of the same gray metal, with a twin sized bed on one side, a small nightstand, dresser, and vanity with mirror, all gray, all drab, and all lacking any kind of warmth. There were no posters on the wall, no clothing strewn around. Everything was organized in its proper place, embracing the cold sterile environment. And to Bella, this room, this facility, this bunker the facility was encased in, was home.

Isabella Swan had not lived in this bunker her entire life. She was once a normal child too, doing normal children things, in a normal house. In extremely lucid dreams, she could even recall that house, a small two story, white house, with a tiny porch in the front with a swing. She spent all her time playing on that swing, either creating elaborate make-believe plots with her dolls or just swinging all day watching cars drive by or people walking their dogs. She could remember glancing back into the house and seeing her mother's beautiful face smiling and watching her through the window as she prepared a meal or washed dishes. And every day around 5:30pm, Bella knew to get off the swing and wait at the top of the steps to watch her father come home from work. After parking the car, he would climb up the steps to the house and ruffle her hair as he said 'hey kiddo'. Those were the happy days. It's been a very, very long time since then.

After a while, her mother stopped smiling and her father stopped remembering to say hi to her as he came home from work. Instead he went straight into the house and started yelling at her mom. Bella was too young to understand at the time, but the argument was the same.

Charlie Swan was a member of an elite group of people who spent their lives protecting humans from vampires. To most, vampires were made up glorified boogeymen to scare their children, but in reality they were not fiction at all. Sure things like vampires being afraid of garlic were completely made up, but these creatures of the dark who feasted on human flesh were not.

Vampire hunters and vampires had been around since the beginning of time. Mummified remains sealed in coffins in ancient Egyptian tombs – vampires. Warriors of the Crusades – vampire hunters. Terra Cotta sculptures – vampires. Leaders of the Salem witch trials – vampire hunters. Every century was the same battle of humans versus vampires, just under a different name. And each group also underwent different name changes. Creatures of the night, bloodsuckers, Dracula – but finally they it was decided just to call them vampires. And the ones after them liked to also give themselves extravagant names such as Order of the Sun, Light Bringers, and it goes on and on, but eventually they just decided on Vampire Hunters. Capital V and capital H.

Charlie had been a part of the Vampire Hunters since he was a child, and one in many in the family line of Swan to battle vampires. Charlie grew up an obedient member of the Vampire Hunters. He learned their ways, he did his part, but while on mission he met the beautiful, free spirit of Renee Dwyer. She was carefree and lived a life Charlie never knew he wanted. They fell in love fast and hard, and against the wishes of the Vampire Hunters to be with one of their own, he married Rene. They had a few wonderful years together. Despite the initial shock of Renee learning about the true nature of vampires and hunters, they still loved with force and Charlie swearing up and down, work would never come home with him. Little Isabella Swan eventually came along. She was a blessing to them both, but soon she would become the focal point of dissent. When Bella reached the age of 5, Charlie approached Renee about putting Bella in the same training he had at her age in the Vampire Hunters. Renee was completely against it, reminding Charlie about his promise to separate work life and home life. But it was too hard to separate his personal upbringing from the one he wanted his child to have.

The fights became worse and the yelling louder. Until one day, during the worst argument they had ever had, five year old Bella retreated to her closet inside her bedroom to hide from the noise. She endured the worst of the shouting by covering her ears and holding on to her stuffed bunny as tight as possible. Renee burst into Bella's room. Bella could hear Renee frantically searching through her room. Renee finally opened the closet door and found her daughter huddle in a small ball with tiny tears leaking from her eyes.

Renee broke down in tears and crumpled to the floor, lifting her daughter in her arms. Renee looked into those tiny, wet brown eyes and spoke the hardest words she had to ever speak in her life.

"I know you don't understand, babygirl, but Mama has to go."

"Why?" Bella questioned, rubbing tears from her eyes.

"I can't explain right now. I will tell you when you're older. But I want you to know something…" there were footsteps in the hallway. Renee glanced back and saw Charlie standing at the doorway with members of the Hunters standing behind him. Renee held on to Bella even tighter.

"I love you babygirl. I love you with all my heart. I never wanted to leave you, but I have no choice. I will always be here for you. I will always be your Mama." Renee produced a tiny gold cross from her pocket, and placed it on Bella's neck. Sensing she was going to leave, Bella dropped her bunny and held onto Renee with all the strength her tiny arms could muster. Renee sobbed heavily, gave Bella one tight hug, and placed her tiny body on the ground, then began to back away.

"Mama no. Where are you going? Mama? Mama!" Bella's heartbreaking cries haunted Renee as she was escorted from the room into a waiting car in the driveway. Bella tried to follow Renee, but Charlie stopped her.

After a year of fighting, Renee finally gave up. She was receiving pressure from every side, Charlie, his family, his friends, to let Bella join in Vampire Hunter training. She finally conceded, but decided if her daughter was going to have her childhood ruined by this training, she would not be there to watch it happen. Renee decided to move out.

Bella's continued to cry as sobs shook her body. Charlie came up to her and held her in his arms.

"Where did Mama go?" Bella asked.

"Isabella, your mother is going away. You'll see her soon, but you are going to experience something new. You are going to grow up the way I grew up. I know you feel sad now, but trust me this is for the best. You will grow up big, strong, and smart." Bella's tears began to stop flowing comforted by the sound of her father's voice but not exactly understanding what he meant. Charlie wiped away the lingering wet marks on her face. "And Isabella, today will be the last day you cry."

Soon after, Charlie packed up only essential items and moved Bella into the main Vampire Hunter training bunker in Forks, Washington. It was rough at first. Bella was surrounded by cold, harsh people, a complete opposite environment than the one she was used to. She began educational training and advanced to physical training. She learned the ways of the Vampire Hunters. She was still able to see her father and mother every once in a while, but her life had a new meaning and purpose now, one dedicated to the Vampire Hunters that didn't have room for frivolity of familial obligations. And Charlie was right. Bella had not cried since.

Bella could not recall that day, the conversations she had, or the emotions that went through her. The only thing she could recall was a slight ache in her soul – an ache that tried to explain the emptiness felt when you had love removed from your life. But it was an ache Bella did not want to decipher, and one she pushed to the back of her heart many years ago.

Bella walked into room number 126 and to the vanity mirror. While standing up she appraised herself. She was 22 years old, the most physically fit she had ever been and in her prime. She was wearing a black sports bra with black shorts, black fingerless gloves on her hands, and black workout shoes. Her body was built fantastically. She had muscle everywhere, but was able to give it a feminine flare, making her look still like a woman, just one who could kick anyone's ass. Bella let down her high pony tail letting her wavy brown hair fan out around her. She stared into her own brown eyes as she mindlessly fingered the edges of the cross necklace she always wore and never took off. She was proud of herself. She did well in the test. But she always did. This was only one of many tests they had been recently putting her through. It made her think they were gearing up to send her out on a big mission.

It was not her first time in the field. Bella had gone on many assignments. She had killed more vampires than most twice her age. So to test her often and in many extremes both physically and intellectually, she must be under consideration for a mission unlike ones she had done before.

Bella took time to brush knots out of her hair from the practice and put on regular long pants and black tank top, which was considered casual clothing for trainees. She placed her hair back into a high pony tail. She stood up and took the gun/stake holster and wrapped in around her waist and under her shirt. She also attached a knife/stake holster around her ankle and place a small ornamental stake disguised as a clip into her hair. While there had never been a vampire attack at the bunker, it was ingrained her head to always be armed and prepared for anything. After neatening up her appearance and her vanity table, Bella heard a knock. A man dressed in all black entered her room.

"The Council requests your presence in the conference room in ten minutes."

"Understood," Bella acknowledged.

The guard left and Bella wasted no time in responding to the request. She briskly walked through the same gray hallways leading to giant metal double doors. Bella took a moment to compose herself and knocked on the doors. Two guards opened both doors at the same time. Bella entered the conference room.

The room was nothing special, made of the same metal, but with whiteboards on the walls and a projector set up on the far side of the room. There was a long oval table in the middle of the room with twenty seats, nineteen of which were already filled by every top supervisor Bella had both met and only heard about in whispers. The Vampire Hunters liked to think of themselves as well meaning group doing the work of the Light. They were headed by the Council who decided the big actions and missions for hunters to take on. Smaller missions did not need the approval of the entire Council, so to see them all seated at the conference table gave Bella a heads up at the level of importance of this meeting. One seat at the head of the table was empty.

"Miss Swan, you make take a seat."

"Thank you, sir."

Bella sat in her seat as nineteen pairs of eyes looked back at her. Near the projector screen at the far end of the room, Bella's main training supervisor stood up. Stefan was a middle aged man, notorious for being a hard ass. But Bella never ran into any trouble with him. In fact, Bella was more of a teacher's pet when it came to Stefan.

"Miss Swan, you are our most successful member of our current recruit fleet. You excel at every test we put in front of you. You're number of vampire kills is extremely high and you could put most people to shame in regards to intellect. In short, you are the best of the best in the Vampire Hunters and that is exactly what we need for this upcoming mission. We believe San Francisco has been recently overrun by vampires. More and more human bodies show up every day. We believe the ones at fault for this belong to a local business. We have been given the unique opportunity to infiltrate a company we believe is run by one of the most powerful vampires the world of darkness has to offer. The mission is to place our agent undercover into this company, find out if the CEO is truly a vampire, find what connections he has in the vampire scene and if he is responsible for the recent deaths, and then kill him. Should you accept and succeed in this mission, you will be bestowed the highest honors and placement the Vampire Hunters have to offer. Your name will go down in history. But do not be fooled, this is a highly dangerous mission, and more often than not you will find yourself in unwanted vampiric company, but you must use your intelligence, wit, and in the right moments brutality to destroy the vampire base. What are your thoughts?"

All eyes turned from Stefan to Bella to gage her reaction. Bella did not dawdle in her response.

"Vampires are the most unholy, evil creatures to walk this earth. They are not human. They are damned to an eternity in Hell, and I would love nothing more than to do my part to take down those sinful beings."

"Wonderful!" Stefan responded enthusiastically. "See! What did I tell you about this one?" Stefan chuckled to a nearby colleague. The man nodded his head in agreement.

"In front of you, you will find a folder with detailed information on your mission." Stefan pointed a remote at the projector screen and a huge image popped on the screen of an overview of a city. Stefan went into some key information about San Francisco, safe houses in the city, location of the apartment, and finally he flipped to the final picture in the slideshow.

Bella's mouth almost dropped open. It was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. He had illustrious thick blonde hair, golden eyes that held so much warmth, and a smile that radiated happiness. Bella was no expert by far on the opposite sex, except that they could usually not keep up with her, but she never had an experience like this. Just looking at his image made her want to look away and yet stare straight into it. She wanted to fall into those eyes forever. Bella forced herself to stop and pay attention to Stefan.

"This, Ms. Swan, is your target. Billionaire Edward Cullen, CEO of Twilight Industries, the leading researchers and developers of solar energy products."

Bella couldn't believe it. He was the alleged vampire. He was the enemy. He was supposed to be the source of her hatred. Even if he was drop dead gorgeous, she could not compromise this mission because of her hormonal reaction. Bella tried to recalibrate her feelings, so she felt nothing but disgust when looking at that face.

"We have secured you an apartment in the city, and you will begin working at Twilight Industries as the personal assistant to Edward Cullen. You leave tonight."

"I understand. I accept this mission and look forward to being successful."

"I have no doubt you will be," Stefan gazed upon his star pupil. "Your father and mother have already been notified of your new assignment, but no one outside of this room knows the true nature of what we have given you. You will speak of this to no one. I do not need to remind you that our greatest asset.."

"is our anonymity." Bella completed the well-known phrase that had been drilled into her head since she was young. Stefan smiled again.

"We have prepared your things for departure immediately. Is there anything you must complete before you leave?" Stefan asked.

"No, sir." Bella was a lone wolf. She had no friends here in the bunker. You were taught not to attach yourself to anyone emotionally because one day they could go out on assignment and never come back. She was a trained solider and ready to complete her duty as one.

"Wonderful!" Stefan exclaimed again. "Well then Miss Swan, good luck and may Light watch over you."

Everyone stood up from their chairs and took a minute to walk over to Bella and tell her how proud they were, how much they were expecting, and to wish her good luck. Bella regarded them all professionally, but couldn't be happier when guards finally came to escort her to the jet. She didn't like the claustrophobic feeling of being enveloped in a crowd. Bella followed black-clad, gun hoisting men to an elevator holding the debriefing folder with her mission details in her hand. One guard punched in a secret ten digit code, gave both a finger print and eye scan to open the elevator doors. The elevator climbed ten flights and finally reached the surface, opening out to the inside of a barn. The barn doors were opened to a small landing strip. To an unsuspecting eye, it looked like a harmless farm, with a small landing strip for the airplane to crop dust the acres of farmland.

It was night out, but even in the darkness, Bella's trained eyes could see tiny movements where guards were securing the land. A ten passenger plane waited on the landing strip. The guards walked Bella over to the plane and closed the door once she climbed the steps into the plane.

The plane was small and occupied by only herself, the two guards, and the pilots. One of the pilots mentioned it was going to be a couple hours before they would reach San Francisco. Bella was fine with that. It gave her time to think.

It was a fast an efficient process of securing the plane and climbing up into the air. Bella watching the barn become a tiny spec in the distance and finally turned her thoughts onto the mission in front of her.

She opened the case files and was greeted with the same picture of Edward Cullen clipped to the front. Bella reminded herself that despite his warm appearance, he was a vampire; a demon from the depths of Hell who lived off of drinking and killing innocent humans. The first thing any recruit is taught, it is that vampires are cunning, deceitful, evil creatures. They can look normal, but in reality they are nothing like humans. She had first-hand experience with fangs thrust into her face as vampires tried to drain the life from Bella. But she destroyed the vampire easily with a stake to the heart. She loved watching their ugly faces crumble and fall into ash as they realized a human girl was their demise.

Bella's life was simple. Vampires are bad. Vampire hunters are good. Kill the vampire. Mission complete. And Bella had not had an unsuccessful mission yet. She was not going to start now. And yet, while imagining how great it would be to see Edward Cullen die at her hands, she couldn't get the picture of those handsome golden eyes out of her mind. Bella brought her hand up to her necklace and fingered the familiar edges of the cross.

A/N: New story! I hope you like it, and if you do review, review, review!


	2. San Francisco

Chapter Two: San Francisco

The flight wasn't that long. Bella nodded off a bit and when she opened her eyes, they were touching down in San Francisco International Airport. The sun was beginning to rise, but sunlight never reached the ground in the city. It was very overcast as was typical in late Fall. Perfect vampire weather.

It was still a private flight, so instead of getting off in the public terminals, the plane landed in a more remote area of the airport. Bella descended the steps off the plane, stretching the kinks out of her back. The two body guards that accompanied her pulled pre-packed luggage out of the storage of the plane and loaded it into an all-black compact car. One of the guards directed Bella into the back seat while they both climbed into the driver and passenger side of the vehicle. The car immediately took off.

"Where are we headed?" Bella asked the two guards who had been completely silent.

"To your assigned living quarters."

"Which would be where?"

"In San Francisco." Bella felt exasperated. Well duh! Of course it was in San Francisco. But this was the way recruits were trained in the Vampire Hunters. Never divulge detailed information unless absolutely necessary. In the end it didn't matter, she would be arriving to her new place soon, but even she thought the guard was a little uptight.

Instead of pushing her question further, Bella decided to just enjoy the sights as the city was beginning to wake. It had been a few months since Bella had been out on a mission, but her previous locations were nowhere near as beautiful as San Francisco. They drove on the freeway until they got off on 19th avenue. She observed the early morning commuters waiting at the bus stop for the public MUNI bus, college students heading off to class, or kids groggily walking towards school. The car drove past a quiet Golden Gate Park into the Pacific Heights district. The car finally came to a stop in front of a modern building with a sign over the doorway reading Eclipse Apartments. One of the guards got out and unloaded the luggage, while the other sat idling the car. Bella assumed this was her stop and followed the guard out of the car.

The complex was swanky enough to have their own doorman. He was an older gentleman, white hair tucked into a cap, and creases on his face showing he had definitely smiled a lot in his life. He gave Bella one of those smiles and a good morning greeting. She politely smiled back as he held the door open for her. Bella and the guard took the elevator to the top floor in the building. They reached a hallway and at the very end of the hallway was Bella's new apartment. The guard produced a key card from his pocket, and scanned them in.

It was better than Bella expected. The front door immediately opened into a small entrance space with a shoe shelf and coat rack. The entrance led to a smaller but immaculate kitchen. Everything was top of the line, with stainless steel appliances, an island, and all finished with deep redwood cabinets and marble countertop. There was a nice sized living room beyond that with a comfortable looking loveseat, redwood coffee table, 50 inch screen Plasma TV, and a large bookshelf off to the right. Bella took a quick look in the bed room: king sized bed, down and feather pillows and comforter, with a balcony leading to a spectacular view of the top of the Golden Gate bridge, portions of the Pacific Heights neighborhood, and of the ocean. All and all, it was a great place. It was living like a king compared to her normal room at the training facility. But Bella had one problem. The guard began to speak to her as she came out of the bedroom.

"All your cabinets and fridge has been stocked. These suitcases hold some outfits for you. Rent has been paid for indefinitely. You will be given a monthly allowance tied to this credit card. This key card will also be your access into your room. I do not need remind you that extreme caution is needed in this city. You never know who could be a vampire. We have not yet fitted this apartment with surveillance equipment, so you must take extra care until we do. Do you have any questions?"

"Just one, do I have training tools at my disposal?"

"Yes, you do, located behind 'The Art of War'. I must take my leave now. A member will check on you in the coming weeks. If at any point you receive important intel or have a notification for us, our number is automatically programmed into your new cell phone." The guard laid down a new iPhone, key card, and credit card on the kitchen island, before leaving Bella alone in her new apartment.

Bella grabbed the items and placed them in her pockets. She walked over to the bookshelf and began scanning the book titles. After a minute she finally found, 'The Art of War'. How fitting to use that particular book. She tried pulling the book out of the shelf, but the book only came out halfway before she heard a click. Bella dropped the book back into place and stepped back. The entire bookshelf began sinking into the wall and swung open. Bella walked into the secret room. Lights above flickered on revealing a hidden training room. There was a moderate size workout training mat, complete with dummies, weights, lifting bars, punching bag, and other equipment. But the real gold mine was located at the back of the workout room. Bella's face lit up with glee as she walked to the back wall of which the entire thing was covered from floor to ceiling with weapons. Every kind of weapon a Vampire Hunter could ever dream of was hanging on the wall from basic wooden stakes, a variety of Bella's favorite gun the beretta, ninja throwing stars, rifles, pistols, knives, and holsters made for women to pair with any kind of outfit to carry the weapons. Always the best of the collection were the specialized weapons for women: a small bottle of acid disguised as perfume, a lipstick tube concealing a tiny explosive in the bottom cap, and various other items which looked harmless yet in actuality they were anything but.

While Bella's skill was formidable, it was nearly impossible to kill a vampire without weapons. To permanently make sure a vampire is dead, you needed to stake them in the heart, cut off their head, or completely destroy the body. Thus weapons were a very necessary tool in a Vampire Hunter's life.

Bella walked through, touching her favorite weapons thinking of when she will first be able to practice with them. Finally, she decided to part with her favorite room, but vowed to be back soon. For now, she needed to read over her case file and create a plan of attack.

She opened the case file on the coffee table and laid out all the different components of her mission. It was obvious, from all the personal information on Edward Cullen, that he was wealthy, extremely wealthy. In every article about his lifestyle, he was pictured with a different exotic, imported car and a different woman on his arm every time. And from Bella's point of view, he didn't have a very good taste in women, each one tackier than the last with bigger boobs than the last. In one magazine his mansion was featured as home of the year, with a sprawling estate covering a huge amount of area in Sausalito. Even his family owned an island off the bay somewhere. Looked like a typical rich snob. Shouldn't be too difficult the crack the shallow exterior of this playboy, even if he was a vampire.

Her information also detailed that his Vice President and main consultant was his sister, Alice Cullen. But she looked like a pixie, and could easily be disposed of. He also had other family members visit the city often, but from the report, it looked like only Alice was in the city at the moment. As much as Bella enjoyed her current living situation, she was confident in her abilities to wrap up this case quickly. How much trouble could one guy be?

The rest of the day went by quickly. Bella poured over every last drop of information. There was no way she was going to walk into a potentially dangerous situation (but she scoffed at that idea) without knowing everything she could. And truth be told, the company did focus on some interesting research topics. It wouldn't be a complete deviation of the mission if Bella could destroy the vampire threat while learning about solar research and development.

After finally becoming comfortable with every fact in the case file, Bella decided it was time to face the suitcases. While Vampire Hunters were a good organization when it came to (obviously) hunting vampires, fashion was at the bottom of the list. Bella brought the suitcase to the bedroom and grimaced as each piece of clothing looked like it belonged on a matronly mother of five children who hadn't seen a fashion catalog in twenty years. While the training facility did issue standard clothing that all recruits were required to wear, it did not mean Bella didn't have a fantastic fashion sense. She used her missions as opportunities to always do a little shopping, even if she didn't have any events to wear them too. Luckily, she kept all the clothes she wore in a storage unit located outside of the training facility. And once she knew the location of the apartment, Bella did not hesitate to send an overnight rush order to ship her clothing. A girl has got to have her wardrobe.

Bella finally decided upon a suitable navy blue pencil skirt with a navy blue blazer and white silk blouse. She did have to remove the shoulder pads from the blazer, but those were minor adjustments compared to the ones she would have to make on the other outfits. The rest of the suitcase went into a reject pile and Bella hoped she wouldn't have to pull an outfit from there again.

Before going to sleep Bella completed her usual routine: change clothes, brush teeth, and place a gun in the nightstand, a knife between the headboard and the mattress, as well as another knife in a sheath inside the pillow next to her. Bella slept soundlessly that night.

She woke the next morning to an internal clock around 6am. Bella wanted to get ready early to scope out the location of the building and the surrounding area. She got dressed in her outfit laid out from the night before with sensible white heels. She then accented the outfit with a knife/stake holster around her thigh and another gun holster hanging midway down the side of her body so it could be covered up by her blazer. Bella placed her hair in a half up, half down look with her knife hair clip and put on a light touch of makeup. She packed her purse with all the fake personal information provided to her such as birth certificate, social security number, driver's license, etc. She also decided to go light on her first day and only pack the acid perfume spray, eyeliner tool kit, and lipstick/bomb in her purse.

Bella didn't bother with breakfast instead decided leaving earlier was more important for her first day. She greeted the doorman on her way out and walked to the bus stop a block over to catch the 38 bus. It was still relatively early so there were many empty seats on the bus. Bella picked a single seat to right side. As she was riding her bus line down, it was amazing the change as the bus went from Lower Pacific Heights, passing by Chinatown, and then finding herself in the middle of the downtown Financial District. Immediately buildings grew from five stories high to fifty stories high. Even in the early morning the bustle of the downtown area was active. Bella got off at her correct stop and checked the clock on her phone. She had 45 minutes till she needed to arrive for her first day of work.

Bella consulted her map and walked a few blocks over to the Twilight Industries headquarters. It was an intimidating building. It didn't necessary dwarf the other buildings, but it did create a sense of awe and professionalism in terms of architecture that none of the other buildings possessed. The building was made of glass windows and a sparkling metal structure so when scattered beams of light found their way out of the very cloudy weather and hit the building, it looked like it was made of millions of diamonds. It was definitely a sight to see when contrasted with the boring gray of the buildings beside it.

Bella did an inconspicuous scope of the bottom floor. There were multiple exits, one on every side of the building. She took note of the security cameras on the outside of the building. It was a typical security set up. Nothing too obviously vampiric or nefarious going on.

Bella still had time left a spied a Starbucks a few blocks down. While it wasn't a staple in her diet, Bella couldn't help her weakness for coffee. She walked into the corner coffee store and was hit with warmth and freshly grounded coffee. The store was filled with other early morning business people getting their caffeine fix. It didn't take long for Bella to reach the front of the line.

The cashier was a young guy, boyish looking face with pale blond hair and blue eyes. He looked unhappily at the long line of customers waiting for drinks, but immediately smiled once he saw Bella approach.

"Good morning! Can I take your order?" the cashier asked Bella.

"Can I please have the hot white chocolate mocha?"

"Of course, no problem. And I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you new around here? We usually get the same coffee addicts in the morning, but I think I would remember if a beautiful woman walked into my Starbucks before." Bella was taken aback. She usually never had guys flirt with her. It wasn't as if she didn't notice how good looking the opposite sex was, but in the training facility, the fact that she could beat up almost every guy really made her a low prospect when it came to dating.

"..uhh.. yeah…actually I am new. I recently found a new job here."

"I could tell. You still have that freshman wonderment of being in a new city. It looks good on you. My name is Mike Newton, by the way," responded the cashier while extending his hand.

"Isabella Dwyer, but you can call me Bella," Bella responded with her agreed cover name and shook his hand in return.

"Where do you work now?"

"I was hired by Twilight Industries." Mike whistled in response.

"Wow, you must be extremely smart. They are a tough nut to crack in terms of job opportunities."

"I think I was just lucky," Bella responded because she really had no idea how the Vampire Hunters were able to find an opportunity to infiltrate a supposed vampire organization. Bella was interested in knowing, but would never find out. You didn't question the Vampire Hunters, you just did as you were told.

"Extremely beautiful and modest. You're a rare find around the Financial District. I sometimes deliver coffee over there for meetings, but I will definitely look forward to those deliveries more since I know you're there."

"Mike stop fooling around and serve the rest of the customers!" a voice yelled from the other side of the counter. And sure enough when Bella turned around, there was a very long line of irate customers waiting for Mike to get to them.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get you in trouble." Bella took out her credit card to pay for the drink. Mike shook his head.

"This one is on me, Bella. Consider it a welcome to San Francisco and investment in your new favorite barista!" Mike gave Bella a cute smile and Bella couldn't help but smile back.

"Thank you very much Mike. And I might just decide to return here." Bella let Mike deal with the rest of the customers. When her drink was ready and her name was called out, she grabbed a hold of her cup and found a number scribbled on the side. She locked eyes with Mike and he gave her a quick wink before finishing up the drink he was working on.

If all the guys were cute and bought her coffee, she wouldn't mind this mission at all. She put his number into her phone and texted him so he would have hers. It was a great start to the day.

She finished her drink while leisurely walking back to the Twilight Industries headquarters. When she reached the entrance, Bella discarded the empty container and resettled her mind on a more serious wavelength. She paid attention as she walked into the lobby: two security guards located on the sides of the entrance, one receptionist, four different elevators with scanner access, and multiple security cameras. Again, all standard. Bella walked up to the receptionist

"Hi, my name is Isabella Dwyer. I am a new hire."

"Hello hun. Ah yes, here you are right on the list. I'll send you up on elevator two."

The receptionist pressed a button on her desk and an elevator dinged open. Bella thanked her and waited as the elevator took her to an unknown floor. Bella finally realized her heart was beating a little unevenly. She was a bit nervous. There hadn't been many occasions in her life where Bella had to rely on social skills to get ahead. This would be her first real social challenge and the thought made her anxious. Give her three opponents and she could beat them any day, make her talk to them, and you had a different story. But she did just fine with Mike this morning, so a few more people should be a breeze. Bella braced herself as the elevator reached the top floor of the building. So no preamble, just straight to the big wigs.

When the door opened on the top floor, Bella was greeted by two women. One woman was practically exuding excitement. She had dark curly hair with brown eyes, a huge smile on her face. The other was a tall quiet beauty, with light brown hair and soft brown eyes. She also had on a welcoming smile, but much more demur. The outgoing one nearly bounced towards Bella.

"Welcome Isabella! My name is Jessica Stanley and this is Angela Weber. We are your guides for the day!"

"Bella," she corrected, "and it's great to meet you both." Bella shook both of their hands. Jessica almost looked like she was going to squeal. Bella questioningly looked at her, afraid to ask why she was so excited, but Angela offered before she had to.

"Excuse Jess here, she is a little amped. It has been a while since we've had another woman up here our age. The last assistant for Mr. Cullen was this ancient sixty year old. She refused to use computers because she didn't want to learn how to work them. She was a pain to deal with. But other than the three of us, everyone else up here is male. Typical male corporate dominated work place." Angela rolled her eyes.

"So you can see why I'm happy to add another player to our team especially one under forty!" Jessica finished for Angela.

"Well, I'm happy to be playing for your team," Bella responded, which seemed to be the right one because Jessica and Angela both grinned back at her.

They showed Bella around the top floor. As mentioned earlier, everyone else on the floor was male and they all looked at Bella like she was a fresh piece of meat in den of hungry lions. One guy didn't even waste any time and suggested to trade numbers right there and then, luckily Jessica and Angela nipped that problem in the bud and turned him down immediately on behalf of Bella.

"Trust us, you don't want to stick your hand in that dirty, STD filled cookie jar," Jessica whispered as they walked away.

"And finally we have the last two offices," Angela stated when they walked a few doors down. In the very corner of the floor was an office Bella assumed with gigantic because it had two double doors. Next to this office was a much more modest office with Bella's name already etched on a nameplate fastened to the door. The office had a corner desk with a top of the like 22 inch Mac desktop, multiple filing cabinets, and shelves in addition to a not so bad view of the bay.

"This office is obviously yours and the one next to you is Edward Cullen's."

Jessica then ushered all three of them into Bella's office and closed the door.

"So," she began excitedly, "what have you heard about Edward Cullen?"

"Nothing but what's in the papers, I guess. Rich, powerful, playboy."

"Well those are all true, but he is also one of the most devastingly handsome men you will ever see in your life. And despite all of his social appearance, he never graces us with his beautiful presence. He almost always stays in his office. And something no one else knows," Jessica's voice got really quiet, and Bella and Angela instinctively got closer to listen, "Edward Cullen is a vampire."

Bella immediately jumped back. "A what?!" she said outrageously. She must have not heard them correctly. Normal humans didn't know about vampires. It couldn't be possible that these two well meaning, but not necessarily super intelligent women could have figured that out.

"A vampire!" Jessica responded with a laugh. "He's absent all day, but comes out at night. Everyone says it's because he works nonstop in his office during the day. Comes in super early and leaves super late, but working is boring. I think it is so much hotter to think he is a vampire."

"God, you and your stupid jokes, Jess," Angela playfully shoved her. Bella finally calmed down and politely laughed along with the two girls. A joke, just a joke. Bella needed to work on her analyzing skills before she ever jumped to a major conclusion like that again.

There was a knock on the door. The girls quieted and the door opened.

"I heard the delightful sound of laughter and decided you weren't really going to have any fun until I arrived."

"You are so full of yourself, Jacob," Angela responded. A strong muscular looking guy stood in the doorway of Bella's office. He had darker brown skin, black hair, and eyes. He definitely looked Native American, but with a more modern hunkier twist.

"I'll have you know this is a confidence that have made many a lady swoon."

"Yeah, swoon with laughter at your buffoonery." Jacob waved her off.

"And who do I have the pleasure of meeting," Jacob purred towards Bella.

Angela took lead on introductions. "This is Mr. Cullen's new assistant, Isabella Dwyer."

"Bella," she corrected again.

"Bella, what a beautiful name, fitting for a beautiful woman. My name is Jacob Black, and I have a feeling we are going to get very well acquainted while you work here," Jacob answered seductively. Wow. The men around here weren't joking around. They were thirsty and Bella was a fresh glass of water. It was at the point where Bella wasn't even surprised by the flirting, and that was saying a lot for someone who doesn't flirt.

"You could give the poor woman a day before you start hounding her," Angela interjected.

"It's fine, Angela. It's nice to meet you Jacob. And I think we will get well acquainted. With those rugged looks, wild hair, dark eyes…" Bella suggestively lowered her tone, "You look just like my little brother!" Bella retorted with a grin. Sure she didn't have a brother, but Jacob did remind her of some of the younger recruits back at the Vampire Hunters training grounds; cocky and immature, but harmless.

Angela and Jessica burst out laughing. Jacob looked taken aback, but quickly recovered himself.

"I like spunk and even more than spunk, I like a challenge and…" but before Jacob could finish his thought, the phone in Bella's new office rang.

Everyone went quiet. The phone rang a second time and Bella realized this was her office and she needed to answer. Bella pick up the phone and put it to her ear.

"Hello, Twilight Industries."

"Isabella Dwyer?" asked a low, silky voice.

"Yes, this is she."

"This is Edward Cullen. Please meet me in my office." The line hung up. Bella placed the phone back into the holder.

"Sorry everyone, Mr. Cullen wants me in his office."

"No worries! We'll check in with you later. Give him a kiss for me," Jessica called with a devious smile while ushering Jacob out the door and Angela following behind them.

Bella stood up, smoothing out wrinkles in her outfit, and took a deep breath. Time to meet the possible vampire boss.

A/N: Review, review, review! It lets me know if people are interested and I should continue the story or trash it! Please and thank you!


End file.
